Service Members May Be Forced Out of the Military Over Pete Hegseth’s New Grooming Policy

Shaving waivers in the military aren't new, and they weren't created carelessly. In 1970, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Elmo Zumwalt — in the middle of a campaign to root out racism and sexism in the ranks — ordered commanders to stop punishing sailors for growing neatly trimmed beards, a directive aimed in part at pseudofolliculitis barbae, the same "razor bumps" condition at the center of today's fight. A 1974 medical study found the change nearly eliminated PFB cases in the Navy. Grooming standards tightened again over the following decade (the Navy banned full beards outright in 1984 ) but the underlying medical exception survived: for the next four decades, a service member who developed PFB could get a waiver rather than choose between their skin and their career, the same basic deal every branch offered. That's the accommodation Hegseth is now dismantling.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the military branches to end nearly all shaving waivers, declaring "no more beardos." Critics say the result is a policy that's medically reckless, falls almost entirely on Black service members, and is being enforced hardest on a Navy that's short on trained hands in an active conflict.

What's Pete Hegseth's Grooming Policy Changes

Under Pete Hegseth's grooming policy, a medical shaving waiver now maxes out at 12 months. After that, troops face administrative separation — discharge, not for misconduct, but for a skin condition. Most of those waivers cover pseudofolliculitis barbae ("razor bumps"), where tightly curled hair curls back into the skin after a close shave, causing inflammation and, over time, scarring and keloids. The standard treatment is to stop shaving — exactly what this policy no longer reliably allows.

Who Hegseth's Memo Hurts

PFB is far more common among Black men, with estimates ranging from 45% to 83%, and nearly 65% of Air Force shaving waivers belong to Black airmen. A rule that looks neutral on paper ends up removing one group at a far higher rate than everyone else — why the NAACP calls it "a broader assault on Black identity despite its guise of 'uniformity'" and why House lawmakers wrote Hegseth directly warning it would disproportionately push out Black troops.

Why it's Reckless Right Now

Forcing someone with active PFB back onto a razor risks the infections and scarring treatment is meant to prevent. And it's happening while the U.S. and Iran trade strikes around the Strait of Hormuz and the Navy is stretched thin supporting it. The armed forces are already facing a "hemorrhaging" retention crisis, and the sailors now facing separation over "unmanageable" razor bumps aren't recruits — they're trained crew the Navy spent years and real money building. Discharging them over facial hair opens a self-inflicted staffing gap in exactly the skill it needs most: trained hands on ships operating in a contested strait, mid-conflict.

The Official Reasoning — and the Pushback

Hegseth's stated rationale is that beards break the seal on gas masks during a chemical or biological attack. But dermatologists with military experience call the claim unsubstantiated for modern respirators, and when the Army actually tested it in 2016, it found alternative gear already in inventory provided adequate protection over beards — a workaround the military had years before this policy and chose not to use. The Pentagon's own framing presents this as restoring a uniform standard, not targeting any group.

Bottom Line

The stakes of forcing men with PFB to shave haven't changed since the 1970s. One Air Force veteran recalled a fellow recruit at basic training in 1964 who was made to dry-shave through his razor bumps as punishment, mutilating his own face in the process. Six decades later, he said, "It still makes me mad to think about his treatment."